Can You Work Your Passion in a Lousy Executive Job Market? is a post from: Executive Career Brand

A client prospect I spoke with recently, a COO in retail, was struggling with whether or not it was time to transition away from the corporate world.

He was desperately unhappy in his work, and had been for several years. Somehow, as his career progressed to the c-level, he realized he had lost his passion for his work. He was making great money, but found little joy in his day-to-day life.

In his US News & World Report article, Does Having Passion for Your Work Even Matter?, Curt Rosengren offered three reasons why passion is one of the most important investments you can make in your career:

It’s an energy source.

Being on fire about your work energizes you. Instead of being an energy drain, your work becomes an energy gain. Instead of dipping into your energy reserves, as so many people have to, you’re creating enough energy from what you do to power your day.

It helps you feel more confident.

Too many people drag themselves to jobs that require them to be someone they’re not. This drains their energy and keeps them off balance. Trying to be who you’re not requires excessive energy. Maintaining the facade keeps you off balance.

Conversely, when you’re aligned with what energizes you, you achieve balance and strength. You feel confident about what you’re doing.

It feeds your persistence.

Challenges and roadblocks that inevitably come our way are much easier to manage and overcome when we’re pursuing things we’re passionate about. Roadblocks don’t seem as insurmountable.

I always counsel executives who are unhappy in their careers that, regardless of the economy, it never hurts to find out what else is out there that might bring them career fulfillment.

You just never know what’s right around the corner. It costs nothing but time to think about and explore what would truly make you happy.

Talk to people, do some research, do some soul-searching. Reconnect with your passions and explore opportunities that will ignite and excite you!

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Would You Rather Be a Baseball Team COO Than a Telecomm COO? is a post from: Executive Career Brand

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Although the thought of transitioning into an entirely new career in mid-life may seem foolish, many people feel compelled to move toward working their passion.

Somewhere along the way, progressing up in their careers, they lost their way. They’re not being true to themselves. Their work may satisfy financial needs, but doesn’t fulfill otherwise. They’re feeling a certain emptiness.

A friend told me the other day that her husband was thinking of a drastic career change away from the printing industry. This was what he’d always done, and felt it was his career path, but it just wasn’t working anymore.

His passion – making beer. He’d always wanted to be a brew master and was ready to give it a go, but was having a hard time getting a foot in the door.

I recommended these two terrific resources to help him explore, dream and discover:

1.  Vocation Vacations

Brian Kurth (@BrianKurth on Twitter) created an innovative program that connects career transitioners with mentors working in the exact job they want, so they can test drive the job of their dreams.

He has over 300 experts on board, representing over 125 careers, with whom you can partner and receive 2 days of shoulder-to-shoulder mentoring.

Some of the dream job vacations offered include:

Alpaca Rancher
Antiques Dealer
Archaeologist
Baseball Announcer
Boat Captain
Brew Master
Chocolatier
Comedian
Fishing Guide
Flight Instructor
Landscape Architect
Pit Crew Member
Shoe Designer
TV Producer
Vineyard Owner
Voice-over Artist

2.  My Lifestyle Career

Nancy Collamer’s (@NancyCollamer on Twitter) blogsite is loaded with advice and resources for people who want to make a change but haven’t reconnected with their passion and what they really want to do next.

In a recent “Career Reinvention Tip of the Week“, Nancy wrote the post, “Feeling Stuck? 6 Ways to Ignite Those “Aha!” Moments“, in which she suggested ways to break through clogged brain connections, gain perspective, and find moments of revelation:

1. Quiet yourself – Scientific studies confirm that people who consistently practice mind-quieting strategies, enjoy increased self-awareness and creative thinking.

2. Activate all five senses – Engage your whole body to help out your head. Your endorphins will flow and act like roto-rooter for your brain.

3. Rewire your brain – Fire up your brain by shaking up your “normal” — take a different route to work, try out a new place for lunch, go to a lecture on a topic you know nothing about.

4. Engage your intuition – Tap into the power of images and music to stir your soul. The visual and auditory stimuli can help open up your mind to new patterns and possibilities.

5. Reconnect with your inner child – If you want to recapture the “can-do” spirit of your youth, recreate your childhood by engaging in some of your favorite childhood activities.

6. Take a trip – Even if you can’t go on a full-blown vacation, just a day away from your normal environment can help you gain much needed perspective.

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Spring Is in the Air! Who Cares About Work or Job Search? is a post from: Executive Career Brand

After all that devastating rain and snow-melt, for the past several days here in the Northeast we’ve been enjoying the kind of unseasonably warm, restorative weather normally not seen until June. From one day to the next, daytime temperatures rose from the 40’s to over 70. We’re expecting a record-setting high of 80 today, and even higher tomorrow.

Overnight my appetite shifted from wanting only warming homey meals like chili or a good substantial soup, to craving salads and cold dishes. Yesterday it was so warm in the house, I had to turn on the air conditioning for a bit.

This is the kind of weather that beckons us to forget about commitments that keep us indoors – like our jobs or searching for one. It makes us want to chuck all responsibility and find a reason, or no reason at all, to head outside.

There’s the barest hint of green in the trees. But it smells good, feels good, and sounds good out there. Makes me think of when I was young and couldn’t wait until the weather was warm enough to try out the new roller skates I got for Christmas on the neighborhood cul-de-sac.

Antsy with spring fever, I don’t feel like working, but I’ll finish up what’s pressing and close up shop as early as I can today. Although it’s still early, there are a few things I can putter with in my garden. The big pots of tarragon, lemon thyme, and other herbs I over-wintered in the garage are showing new green and need to be hauled outside.

Or maybe I can locate a pair of roller skates somewhere.

If you’re experiencing this kind of weather today, please try to get outside, if even briefly. If you can’t get out, maybe this video I tracked down will make you feel better.

Sit back for 5 minutes or so and enjoy Gene Kelly doing a carefree tap dance number on roller skates from the 1955 movie “It’s Always Fair Weather”. If this doesn’t make you smile . . .

Can you do what he does on 8 little wheels?

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Photo by Meg Guiseppi

Considering an Executive Career Reinvention? is a post from: Executive Career Brand

Does your current work bring you the fulfillment you need and deserve?

Or have you become dissatisfied with the way you make a living and want to look at new career options?

Many executives I speak with find themselves languishing in jobs that don’t feed their passions or their pocketbooks.

My friend and colleague Randi Bussin, a career reinvention expert and personal branding strategist, has written a set of 2 e-booklets for Job-Hunt.org, “5 Steps to Starting Your Career Reinvention” and “5 Steps to Implementing Your Career Reinvention“.

These little e-books are packed with valuable resources and tips to smoothly transition in a new direction.

Some of her exercises align with those in my “10 Steps to an Authentic, Magnetic Personal Brand“. As with any career transition and job search, start by defining your personal brand and unique promise of value.

Here’s a synposis of Randi’s 10 steps to kickstart your transition:

First, from “Starting Your Career Reinvention”

1.  Assessment of Career Likes and Dislikes

Write down everything you like and dislike about your job — your boss, your co-workers, your company or organization, your industry.

2.  Separate Your “Motivated Skills” from Your “Burnout Skills”

What skills are you good at, or relatively good at AND which skills do you enjoy using? Whether or not you’re good at them, which skills do you HATE using?

3.  Assess Your Interests or Passions

Some of the questions you can ask yourself include:

• If you could do any job in your life, what would it be?
• If you could go back to school to study a new field, what classes or topics interest you?
• Are there areas where your friends and family perceive you as an expert?

4.  Assess Your Values (The rewards you want to get from your work)

Ponder these questions:

• What is important to you in your life and career?
• What motivates you and is important to you?

5.  Assess Your Finances

Know what you’re getting into (what salary you can expect) and put together a realistic budget, with a 3 to 6 month cash cushion (and plan for training/professional development expenses).

. . . And, from “Implementing Your Career Reinvention”:

1.  Brainstorm Potential Career Options

Recruite 2 to 5 brainstorming partners to help you build a list of career options and hone it down to just 3 to 4 that really interest you.

2.  Research Occupations and Industries

Randi includes valuable resources to help you learn about the realities (training/education required, potential earnings, expected job prospects, working conditions, etc.) of various occupations in diverse industries.

3.  Consider Dipping Your Toe In the Water

Tips on test-driving jobs in various fields through volunteering, working part time, transferring within your company, and using the mentor-driven service VocationVacations.

4.  Prepare Your Marketing Documents

Now you’re ready to create your marketing messaging needed to SELL yourself. Given today’s tough competitive market and the difficulty most people have in knowing how to strategize these documents, Randi suggests hiring a professional to collaborate with you.

5.  Power Up Your Networking and Find a Mentor

Resources include links to Job-Hunt’s lists of Associations and Local Networking/Job Search Support Groups, and advice on building a relationship with a mentor.

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A Nifty Personal Brand Writing Tool: Wordnik is a post from: Executive Career Brand

Most of my work day is spent writing — creating personal marketing communications for my executive clients, blog posts for my 2 blogs, guest-blogs and articles for various other blogs and websites, and my own business and career marketing materials.

I love words and I’m always interested in resources to improve my writing.

Recently I came across Wordnik.

According to their site, Wordnik is billions of words, 300 million example sentences, 4.7 million unique words, and over 180,000 comments, 87,000 tags, 74,000 pronunciations, 22,259 favorites and 22,819 lists created by 29,177 Wordniks.

My mouth was watering after reading that.

In a NY Times Sunday Magazine “On Language” article in December, Erin McKean, chief executive and founder of Wordnik, explained what their online dictionary is trying to accomplish:

“We’re using text-mining techniques and the unlimited space of the Internet to show as many real examples of word use as we can, as fast as we can.

This approach is especially useful for grasping new words and uses: if you look up “tweet” on a site like mine, for example, you understand that the word is used to refer to messages sent via Twitter; there’s no waiting for an editor to write you a definition; plus there are examples of tweets right on the page.

A word is so much more than its meaning: it’s also who uses it, when it was used, what words appear alongside it and what kinds of texts it appears in.”

Wordnik includes definitions, examples, pronounciations, etymologies, and statistics.

It also has a fun and helpful blog, and a word of the day. On February 8, the word was “eldritch”. Know what it means? Get the answer.
 

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Social Media: Never on Sunday? is a post from: Executive Career Brand

When I recently visited my elderly, ultra tech-challenged father (he still has trouble with his answering machine – forget about him ever getting a computer), I brought along my netbook to see if I’d be able to pick up a signal at his house.

He marveled at how small my laptop was. “Is that a full computer?” he asked. I told him it was. We talked a bit about how far we’ve come with the Internet and technology.

He shook his head and asked, “Is the Internet open 24 hours a day”? Of course, I answered “yes”.

I think he was politely nudging me to put the thing aside while we were visiting. But did that little question of his ever hit home with me.

Yes, the Internet never closes, but I certainly don’t have to take advantage of its non-stop availability so much.

I didn’t intend to check emails or Twitter or anything while I was visiting (how rude would that be!), but I was hoping I could show him my blogs, because he’d never seen anything I’ve done online. Honest! That’s all I was going to do.

Besides, I couldn’t pick up a signal anyway.

But you know how it is. These portable devices make it so easy to happily stay connected . . . endlessly.

My friend Tim Tyrell-Smith put it so well in his post, Your Computer is NOT Your Friend:

“Some days your computer feels like a great friend. Doing all that work for you. Humming along. Keeping you company on those long days during job search.

But it’s not the great friend you think it is. It is dastardly.

It can destroy your focus. Lock you down in a false state of perceived productivity. You can spend hours each day wasting your time.”

Jeff Atwood had this to say in his post, Email: The Variable Reinforcement Machine:

“Go ahead, pull the ‘new email’ lever. Take a chance. Most of the time you’ll end up a loser, the proud recipient of yet another spam email, a press release you don’t care about, or some irrelevant conversation someone has cc:ed you into. But not always. There are those rare few times when you’ll hit the jackpot: you’ll get an important bit of information you needed, or tentative contact from a long lost friend or associate, or other good news.

We’re so ecstatic to get that single useful email out of hundreds that we can’t keep ourselves from compulsively pressing the new email lever over and over and over, hoping it will happen again soon.”

In an attempt to break my semi-addiction, I set a goal a few weeks ago. NO SOCIAL MEDIA OR COMPUTERS AT ALL ON SUNDAYS!!!

I mean, is it really necessary to check emails on Sunday, when I know I won’t respond until Monday . . . or keep up with social networking, when nothing happening there will be so critical I have to deal with it on Sunday. Isn’t it more important to rest my eyes and shift thoughts away from business at least one day a week?

So far, I was successful in meeting my goal on one Sunday out of the past three. And it was wonderful to disconnect for that one whole day. Let’s see what happens this Sunday.

What Personal Branding is NOT is a post from: Executive Career Brand

Branding is big buzz these days.

One the one hand, that’s good. With more information out there, the value of personal branding is hitting home with more people and branding is more likely to become embedded in the fabric of healthy career management, job search, and career marketing.

On the other hand, that’s bad. With all the buzz come thousands of talking heads and self-professed experts who constantly pound us with misinformation. With so much noise, flash, and bravado, it’s no wonder so many people are confused about personal branding.

They’re busy latching on to bits and pieces and stopping short of the whole picture.

Things I’ve read from various misinformed bloggers:

“Most of the time ‘personal branding’ is a fancy word for ‘narcissism’.”

“In a sense, it is shameless self publicity.”

“The premise of personal branding (in case you haven’t been exposed to it) is that success doesn’t come from personal development or hard work or intelligence. Instead, personal branding proponents claim that success comes from self-packaging.”

“I think personal branding is a sham. The idea that you can have one thing that consistently defines you in all contexts of your life is ridiculous.”

If you believe these and other disparagers who feel compelled to set the world straight about the frivolity of personal branding, you may never know the true value of defining and communicating your own authentic brand.

To be clear:

• Personal branding is NOT just a buzz word, the latest passing fad.
• Personal branding is NOT merely ego-stroking and self-promotion.
• Personal branding is NOT just a catchy logo or tagline.

Here’s the real deal:

Personal branding is not new. It’s always been with us. Before there was a name for it, people were assessing other people’s reputation and promise of value before deciding whether to partner, hire, or do business with them.

Tom Peters coined the phrase in his Fast Company article “The Brand Called You” in 1997 and explained it this way:

“We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.

You’re hired, you report to work, you join a team — and you immediately start figuring out how to deliver value to the customer. Along the way, you learn stuff, develop your skills, hone your abilities, move from project to project.

And if you’re really smart, you figure out how to distinguish yourself from all the other very smart people walking around with $1,500 suits, high-powered laptops, and well-polished resumes. Along the way, if you’re really smart, you figure out what it takes to create a distinctive role for yourself — you create a message and a strategy to promote the brand called You.”

According to William Arruda, personal branding pioneer and founder of Reach Branding, “Your brand resides in the hearts and minds of those around you.”

You already have a brand. Your brand is your reputation.

To get a handle on and communicate the unique value you offer – your brand – you need to do some digging to define the unique set of strengths, personal attributes, and drivers that differentiate you from your peers and competitors.

Along with introspection, the true measure of your brand comes from eliciting and assimilating feedback from those who know you best. They already know what your brand is about. They know what you’re the “go to” person for.

The branding process also includes identifying your target audience so that your brand positioning message will resonate with them.

But branding isn’t just about marketing yourself.

Because the defining and development process looks at your vision, purpose, values and passions, branding is also a personal development tool. With this introspection comes a keener understanding of what kind of work is a best fit for you.

Branding helps you position yourself to move toward career fulfillment and work your passion.

In your career marketing communications, branding helps generate chemistry in you, what you’re like to work with, how you make things happen, and what you have to offer that no one else does.

Once you’ve defined what differentiates you and pulled together your brand, you can build a career marketing strategy to consistently communicate your unique promise of value to your target audience across multiple channels, online and offline.

Your brand makes it easier for recruiters and hiring decision makers to decide if you’re a good fit for their organization, and whether to hire you or do business with you.

If working through the personal branding process can help you find career fulfillment, better communicate to employers why you’re the best hiring choice, make their hiring decision easier, and most likely get you into your next great gig faster, isn’t it worth the effort?
 

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